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Honorverse:Wikipedia content/List of locations in the Honorverse
This article is from Wikipedia and has been saved from deletion in order to include its missing content into the Honorverse Wiki. A list of nations, systems and planets in the Honorverse. Beowulf Located in the Sigma Draconis System, Beowulf is the second-oldest human colony, having been founded almost two thousand years before the events in the Honorverse saga. Beowulf is a major member of the Solarian League. It has a deserved reputation as the most advanced genetic medical establishment in the Galaxy, as well as a very clear commitment to medical ethics. It was also the home of one of the greatest hyperspace theorists and researchers in history. Adding to the prosperity of Beowulf is the fact that the Sigma Draconis system is one of the termini of the Manticore Wormhole Junction, making the system a major trading partner of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Beowulf is known throughout human space for its extremely libertarian sexual mores, its permissiveness generally, and its tolerance for whatever lifestyle any person chooses. For this reason, people from newer colony worlds (especially those not members of the Solarian League) find Beowulfian reputation and sometimes behavior, scandalizing and sometimes offensive. Some Beowulfans, nevertheless, feel that Beowulfan society is actually conformist, since no one ever questions the social system or the principles that govern it. Beowulf has a corporativist system of government, governed by a Board of Directors whose members are elected by lower-level boards which represent professions rather than geographical districts. With some minor adjustments, the system has worked for the full extent of Beowulfan history. Honor Harrington's mother, Allison Chou Harrington, is a native of Beowulf, a physician directly descended from two of the most significant figures in Beowulfan history (Elaine Chou and George Benton). She finds great fun in scandalizing Sphinx's strait-laced society, with her sharp humor and double entendres. Protectorate of Grayson In the struggle to survive, much technology was lost and Grayson just barely managed to survive. The child mortality rate was very high, boys were especially susceptible, and a particularly strong patriarchal culture developed. A civil war between an especially fundamental branch of Grayson's religion and more moderate elements resulted in the defeat of the fundamentalists and their exile (at great effort) to another planet (named Masada) about 40 light years away from Grayson. Intermittent episodes of warfare have continued for the several hundred years since the civil war as the Masadans have managed to gather enough resources to make the voayage to Yeltsin and attack Grayson. In modern times, the nations of Grayson and Manticore have become allies, and Grayson has moved very quickly into the modern Galactic world. Because it was so isolated (very little trade or transportation), Grayson developed its own technological approach which has influenced its adoption of modern technology. For instance, Grayson developed high efficiency nuclear fission reactors which had beenlong abandoned by the rest of the Galaxy. They have also contributed to naval vessel design in conjunction with Manticore, making the grayson navy and the Royal Manticoran Navy the most advanced in the Galaxy. Grayson is organized as a confederacy of Steadings, each ruled by an hereditary Steadholder. Each is sovereign in all but military respects. The planetary government is headed by a Protector, also hereditary. Honor Harrington, after her defense of the planet from Masadan attack, was made the first female Steadholder shortly before the first Haven-Manticore War began. She was also awarded the Star of Grayson, the highest medal of valor available. Later, she became the second highest ranked officer in the Grayson Navy. Using her prize money from customs seizures and enemy vessels captured in battle. She has also financed the development of a modern shipyard, and pioneered the use of very large crystplast domes as protection from the Grayson environment. Gryphon Gryphon is the third habitable planet of the Manticore system. Its surface gravitation is 1.01 G. It is the only habitable planet in the Manticore B sub-system, with a planetary population at the turn of the 20th Century post diaspora of 575 million, plus another 298 million living in Manticore-B's asteroid belts. It has a very considerable axial tilt, leading to extreme seasonal weather. The planet's environment is not very pleasant, with extremely harsh winters with snowfall measured in meters. As a result, natives of Gryphon tend to be a very tough bunch, and also a little contemptuous of people who were not born on Gryphon. On the other hand, Gryphon's weather has made the planet the Star Kingdom's leading ski resort, with tourism accounting for twenty percent of the gross planetary product. Gryphon's economy is mainly agrarian, although the extraction of minerals from Manticore-B's asteroid belts served as the base of a sprawling space industry. Gryphon is much more sparsely populated than either Sphinx or Manticore, but a higher percentage of its population join the Royal Manticoran Navy. Its society is very rough-edged, and people tend to view Manticorans and Sphinxians as soft.In Manticoran politics natives of Gryphon are considered to be conservative royalists. The commoner population of Gryphon holds a significant degree of distrust and resentment towards the Kingdom's aristocracy, which has had its peak with the so-called "Gryphon Uprising", a series of low-level conflicts early in the history of the Star Kingdom between the aristocracy and the commoners regarding the ownership and use of lands. As a consequence, the commoners of Gryphon are staunch supporters of the Crown as defender of the commoner population against the aristocracy, while the planetary aristocracy is mostly of conservative political leanings (supportive of the rule and privileges of the Star Kingdom's nobility). Several references are made to "Gryphon granite," presumably a dense mineral composite. Gryphon is also famous for the Kodiak Maximus, a species of large carnivores with highly valued fur. Hades Hades is a maximum security prison planet belonging to the People's Republic of Haven in the Cerubus system. Although the air is breathable and the climate is very much like Earth's, the planet is technically uninhabitable because virtually all of the plants and animals native to Hades cannot be eaten by humans. Likewise, humans are toxic to the native animals and insects. This does not prevent the native wild life from being a threat to the prisoners unlucky enough to be shipped to Hades. There are four continents called Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and one large island (Styx). Haven terraformed Styx and it is the source of food for the prison camps scattered throughout the main continents. Starvation follows very quickly if food deliveries from Styx are interrupted for any reason; prisoners are well motivated to do as they are told. Hamilton Lynx Lynx is a planet located in the vicinity of the end of the wormhole connecting the Manticore Wormhole Junction with the Talbott Cluster. The Lynx Terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction is named after the planet. The system in which the planet resides is the Lynx System. The Lynx Terminus lies in a nearby star system, and not the star system itself. The Lynx Terminus System and Lynx System belong to the Manticore Quadrant of the Star Empire of Manticore and is governed directly from the main legislature on the planet Manticore. Manticore Manticore is the third planet of Manticore A (Manticore-A III), one of the binary stars of the Manticore System, and one of two habitable planets of that star system. Manticore is a temperate planet with an exceptionally mild climate and surface gravitation 1.01 G. Manticore is the capital planet of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. The capital city is Landing City. It has one moon, Thorson. Although it is much like Old Earth, long years (1 terran year (T-year) equals approximately 0.6 Manticore year) and extended seasons required only small adjustments compared to the indigenous disease it harbored. This plague had killed over 60% of the first group of colonists (almost 90% of those born on Old Earth). HMSS Hephaestus, one of the Royal Navy's shipyards, is in permanent orbit around the planet. As well as HMS Unconqurered, the only ship commanded by both Ellen D'Orville and Edward Saganami, now restored and in permanent commission. Manticore Quadrant The Manticore Quadrant is an organization division in the Star Empire of Manticore. It consists of the Manticore System, the Manticore Wormhole Junction; the Basilisk System, planet Medusa, and Medusa wormhole terminus; the planet San Martin, Trevor's Star System, and the Trevor's Star wormhole terminus; the Gregor wormhole terminus; and the Lynx System, planet Lynx, Lynx Wormhole Terminus, and Lynx Wormhole Terminus system. Star Kingdom of Manticore The Star Kingdom of Manticore (SKM) is the core of the Star Empire of Manticore, and consists of the Manticore Quadrant, and other parts of the Star Empire which are not parts of other quadrants. Star Empire of Manticore The Star Empire of Manticore (SEM) is a star nation in the Honorverse fictional universe. It consists of the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Talbott Quadrant. The fictional politics of the star nation expect that a Silesia Quadrant will be carved out of the Star Kingdom. Manticoran Alliance The Manticoran Alliance is an alliance of star nations, allied to fight the common threat of the People's Republic of Haven. The central member of the alliance, and principal military is the Star Empire of Manticore. Since its formation, several nations have joined it, and one has left it. ;Current members * Alizon, a neobarb star nation of one inhabitted planet and its star system, and founding member of the alliance. * Anderman Empire, is the second strongest member of the alliance, and is a newcomer to the alliance. * Grayson, a founding member of the alliance, at the time of formation, was the third strongest member of the alliance. It is currently the third strongest member of the alliance. * Manticore, the initiator and founder of the alliance * Sidemore, a member of the alliance, located far from the main battle front * Zanzibar, a neobarb star nation of one inhabitted planet and its star system, and a founding member of the alliance. Masada Masada, located in the Endicott System, is home to a society of religious fanatics dedicated to the eventual conquering of the planet Grayson. Masada first appeared in The Honor of the Queen, and has played a role in a number of the later books. Their name is a reference to the fortress of Masada where a group of Jews made their last stand against the Romans. ;History The Masadans are former inhabitants of the planet Grayson who were exiled after a bitter 14 Terran-year Civil War which ravaged the planet. The forefathers of the Masadans, who called themselves the "Faithful", opposed the Church of Humanity Unchained's revised doctrine on technology that contrasted with Rev. Austin Grayson's original dictum that technology was evil, and sought to take control of Grayson's government. Their attempted coup, led by Steadholder Bancroft, caused the deaths of Protector John Mayhew II and fifty-three Moderate Steadholders and their heirs, but they failed to kill John's son and heir Benjamin. Benjamin escaped to another Steading and led the resistance against the Faithful. Steadholder Bancroft's wife Barbara revealed the existence of a Faithful doomsday weapon to the Moderates, leading to a final offensive and a treaty between the Moderates and the Faithful. Barbara Bancroft is revered in Grayson as a heroine and is known as the Mother of Grayson, but to Masadans she became "The Harlot of Satan", the ultimate symbol of evil and the responsible of the "Second Fall of Man". Several chemical-powered (non-impeller) sublight ships were loaded with the surviving Faithful and departed for the nearby Endicott System, where they founded the colony of Masada. Ironically, Masada is a more hospitable world than Grayson, but Masadans vowed to reconquer Grayson from the hands of the "Apostate". ;Current status The Masadan theocracy allied with the People's Republic of Haven, in an attempt to conquer their moderate neighbors. The first attacks crippled the Grayson Navy (and a Manticoran destroyer). Masada's military offensive was due to be followed by a coup d'état by Protector Benjamin's cousin Jared Mayhew, known as "Maccabeus". A series of joint Manticore-Grayson counterstrikes destroyed the Masadan fleet and advanced bases before the Masadans turned on the Havenites and seized control of the Havenite battlecruiser PNS Saladin (or Thunder of God, as the Masadans called her). Thunder of God's destruction by Honor Harrington's squadron marked the end of the last Grayson-Masada War, as a task force led by Admiral Hamish Alexander invaded and seized Masada. In later novels it became known that Masada was placed under a Manticoran protectorate. The planet is under Manticoran military administration, led by General Marcel. Masada is in a constant state of violence, forcing the Manticoran occupation to declare martial law. The murder of Masadan church officials and husbands (usually by their wives) is common. The most famous of these was the grotesque but "artistic" murder of former Elder Simonds by his wives; it should be noted that not all of Simonds' body parts have been accounted for. A joint Manticore-Grayson fleet squadron pickets the Endicott System. Masada has shown a history of off-world terrorism. A group of Masadan terrorists (unknowingly in Havenite pay) have been responsible for the destruction of the Manticoran royal yacht HMS Queen Adrienne, resulting in the deaths of Manticore's Prime Minister Allen Summervale, Earl Gold Peak (Manticore's Foreign Secretary), the Chancellor of Grayson, Henry Prestwick and many other major figures of both Grayson and Manticoran governments. Another Masadan terrorist group was responsible for the attempted -- and failed -- kidnapping of Ruth Winton. Medusa Medusa is the habitable planet orbiting the star Basilisk. It is the setting for some of the action in the novel On Basilisk Station. Discovered when one of the terminals of the Manticore Junction is found, the system is annexed by the Star Kingdom of Manticore, but the planet is a protectorate because of the non-human sentient species, the Medusans, or "Stilties," as they are informally called. The protectorate is administered by a Resident Commissioner and policed by the Native Protection Agency. Dame Estelle Matsuko is the Resident Commissioner for this .85g planet. Medusa has long been a bone of contention in Manticoran politics. The Liberal party decried the annexation as imperialist, and expressed great concern that the native population would be exploited by Manticore. The Conservative Association opposed the annexation as a step onto the path of "foreign adventurism". The Progressive party was opposed because their fears that the annexation would antagonize the People's Republic of Haven. The original Act of Annexation, in an attempt to address these issues, severely limited the scope of powers given to the Medusan territorial government. The biggest limitation was the renunciation of sovereignty over Medusa itself; the protectorate, strictly speaking, was established over the Medusans themselves. As such, the Resident Commissioner's office and the NPA had the authority to take measures to prevent the exploitation of the native population, but did not have the authority to restrict access to the planet itself. From a legal standpoint, it could even be argued that Manticore's territorial claim over the planet was meaningless, since it had no sovereignty. Before the events of On Basilisk Station, this was the legal opinion of the People's Republic of Haven. Another limitation of the Act of Annexation was the restriction on Manticore's military presence in the region. No permanent military installations were allowed, and mobile units were to be kept to the minimum required to maintain order. This restriction caused the Royal Manticoran Navy to conclude that if they were forbidden from keeping a force on station strong enough to repel an attack, there was no point in investing any more ships in the area than were necessary. The Admiralty responsible for formulating the doctrine for the Basilisk picket saw the ships placed there as advance scouts, the destruction of which would call for a response from the Manticoran Home Fleet. It is the center of a plot by the Havenites to end Manticore's administration over the system by engineering a native revolt. This plot failed due to the actions of the light cruiser HMS Fearless and her commander, Commander Honor Harrington. Following this, it is annexed completely by the Star Kingdom, and Haven is severely penalized for their actions. The Navy's presence on Medusa and the Basilisk system is beefed up after this incident, but the system becomes a battlefield during the later stages of the Haven-Manticore war, when a Havenite task force led by Admiral Javier Giscard staged a raid that succeeded in devastating Medusa's space industry (Echoes of Honor). Midgard Federation Rembrandt Rembrandt is located in the Talbott Cluster, a cluster of star systems close to the fringes of the Solarian League. Rembrandt was founded by Renaissance revivalists looking to resurrect Renaissance culture and art; however, these goals were quickly abandoned after the colonists discovered Rembrandt's cold and blustery climate. Rembrandt is much better known for its merchant marine and the Rembrandt Trade Union, a merchant cartel established by Bernardus Van Dort in 1870 PD. The RTU was originally intended to improve the economy of Rembrandt to gain a better negotiating position for Rembrandt's future in the colonization of the Talbott Cluster by the Solarian Office of Frontier Security, seen as inevitable at that time. Through its deals with other worlds in the Talbott Cluster, Rembrandt prospered, and became one of the wealthiest planets in the Cluster — so much so, in fact, that the Rembrandt Stellar is the most widely accepted currency in the Talbott Cluster. This prosperity came at a cost, however. The RTU's chief contract negotiator, Ineka Vaandrager, in her negotiations with other worlds, used aggressive and retaliatory tactics to extract deals that were significantly more beneficial to Rembrandt than the worlds they negotiated with. This gained Rembrandt and the RTU a reputation as home to a group of exploitative profiteers, and fostered animosity among the populations of the worlds Rembrandt negotiated with. When the Star Kingdom of Manticore discovered the Lynx Terminus of their wormhole junction leading to the Talbott Cluster, Rembrandt led the push for the annexation of the Cluster by the Star Kingdom. The animosity held toward Rembrandt by the rest of the cluster proved to be an obstacle to annexation — especially when Bernardus Van Dort resigned as chairman of the RTU to lobby for the annexation effort in the committee for negotiating the terms of the annexation. This animosity would be made manifest in two terrorist factions to prevent the annexation — the Freedom Alliance of Kornati and the Montana Independence Movement. Eventually, the annexation was passed by the committee, and Rembrandt became a subject nation of the Star Kingdom. Rembrandt Trade Union The Rembrandt Trade Union (RTU) is a multinational trading bloc in the Talbott Cluster. It is named for its founding world, Rembrandt. It was established by Bernardus Van Dort in 1870 PD. The RTU was originally intended to improve the economy of Rembrandt (and allied nations) to gain a better negotiating position for Rembrandt's future in the colonization of the Talbott Cluster by the Solarian Office of Frontier Security, seen as inevitable at that time. The RTU's chief contract negotiator, Ineka Vaandrager, in her negotiations with other worlds, used aggressive and retaliatory tactics to extract deals that were significantly more beneficial to the RTU than the worlds they negotiated with. This gained the RTU a reputation as home to a group of exploitative profiteers, and fostered animosity among the populations of the worlds the RTU negotiated with, although this greatly enriched the nations of the RTU. San Martin ;Location Located in the Trevor's Star System, San Martin is the heaviest-gravity planet settled by humans in the Honorverse, at about 2.7 times the gravity of Earth. For this reason, virtually all the people of San Martin, known as "San Martinos", descend from colonists who had been genetically engineered to survive the high-gravity environment. ;Colonization Genetic engineering was not enough to simply move in; the planet is so massive that its sea-level atmospheric pressure is high enough to be incompatible with human physiology (ie, poisonous levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen). For this reason, settlement had been restricted to mountain peaks, plateaus, and alpine valleys of which San Martin has a great many. Probably as a result of being forced to live in small communities and of the planet's unforgiving environment, San Martinos have developed a characteristically stubborn and indomitable personality, culturally and personally. The original San Martino colonists came from a Spanish speaking area of Earth (e.g., Latin America or Spain), as the planet's official language is Spanish. Every San Martino in the novels and stories has a Spanish name, though like most humans, they also speak Standard English though with a distinctive Spanish lilt. ;Havenite Invasion The Trevor's Star System is also one of the Manticore Wormhole Junction's termini, which added to the planet's economic development until it was invaded by the People's Republic of Haven. The people of San Martin stubbornly resisted the invasion; the San Martin Navy, commanded by Commodore Jesus Ramirez, fought with such tenacity to cover refugee transports fleeing through the Junction that the People's Navy lost three ships for each San Martin ship they managed to destroy. Shortly after the planet's surrender, the Havenites executed President Hector Ramirez, Commodore Ramirez' uncle. Havenite occupation was not easy: a planetwide resistance movement led by the Ramirez family struck hard at the Havenite garrison. In retaliation, the Havenites effectively wiped out the entire Ramirez family, and kept the planet under martial law until the Manticoran Alliance evicted the Havenites during the First Haven-Manticore War. ;After the Havenite Oppression Having survived Havenite imprisonment at the Cerberus III prison camps, Commodore Jesus Ramirez was elected as the first post-occupation President of San Martin after Hades's liberation. Within a few years, and with the approval of the San Martin Congress, President Ramirez requested annexation by the Star Kingdom of Manticore, with full political participation—proportionate representation in the Commons and creation of similar numbers of peers in the Houses of Lords. There was one caveat in that their representative Lords will not have cadet seats; which means either all of their peers will be Barons or their Earls and Countesses will be deprived of the privilege for a set period of time. Because they would not take seats until after the next regular election, the San Martin annexation contributed to the behavior of the High Ridge Government after the assassination of Prime Minister Cromarty in the Yeltsin system. They were to be compensated for this with a larger number of MPs in the House of Commons. San Martin thus became the fifth planetary member of the Star Kingdom, after Manticore, Sphinx, Gryphon and Medusa. Smoking Frog Smoking Frog is the capital planet of the Maya Sector of the Solarian League's Office of Frontier Security protected planets regions. It is very well developed industrially and scientifically, much more so than for nearly all OFS supervised planets, as is the Maya Sector generally. Its Governor, Oraville Barregos, has considerable differences with OFS policies and after the liberation of Congo (now called Torch) became one of the most [popuular and best known public officials in Solarin League controlled space. He and the senior Solarian Navy officer in the Maya Sector have begun to build up the Sector's naval forces in anticipation of conflict with other Solarian League interests (eg, OFS or OFS in conjunction with Mesa influenced Solarian League officials or organizations). Sidemore Sidemore is a star nation, and planet in the Marsh star system. It is located in the Silesia Sector, but not part of the Silesian Confederacy. An isolated star system, Marsh, with a single planet, Sidemore. It was taken over by a murderous and megalomaniac political leader after he was ejected from the Chalice Cluster. In turn, he was discovered and removed from the planet by honor Harrington while she commanded a squadron of Q-ships in Silesian space. Sidemore became a Manticoran base and was the object of an attack at the beginning of the second phase of the Haven-Manticore War. Sphinx Sphinx is the fourth planet of Manticore-A. It is a heavy gravity world with a gravity 1.35 times that of Earth. Its orbit gives it a long year compared to Terra, with cool if temperate summers and long extremely severe winters with very heavy snowfalls. By the beginning of the 20th Century post diaspora, Sphinx has a planetary population of 1,048 million. The economy of Sphinx is based upon mining, forestry and animal husbandry. Sphinx is the native planet of a sentient species called Treecats by humans. Their habitats encompass approximately a third of the planet and are protected by Sphinx Forestry Service (SFS). The treecats' claim to Sphinx was made permanent by the Ninth Amendment to the Manticoran Constitution. It was in large part the work of Stephanie Harrington, who had discovered the treecats' existence, been the first human adoptee, and the effective founder of the Sphinx Forestry Service. Sphinxians tend to be the most socially and sexually conservative inhabitants of the Star Kingdom. Torch A tropical planet discovered and controlled by Mesa. Its plant life is a rich source of pharmaceutically active compounds, and Mesa established manufacturing facilities there manned by slaves, as well as a breeding center. In addition, Mesa discovered a wormhole junction (with at least two termini) shortly before the planet was liberated. A joint Manticoran, Solarian Navy, and Audubon Ballroom force used a slave transport seized in the nearby Erewhon system to take the planet from Mesa. In the process, the planet was renamed Torch by its new Queen (Berry Zilwiki), a Solarian Marine Lieutenant resigned to became the Commander in Chief of the Torch Armed Forces, and Princess Ruth Winton of Manticore the intelligence chief for the new Torch government, with advice from both Captain Anton Zilwiki (who was also working or the Anti-Slavery League (and the Audubon Ballroom) as military advisor), and Victor Cachat, the Republic of Haven's Secret Service Chief of Station for Torch and Erewhon.